Shadow walked out through the hallway and followed the others as they made their way out of the dimly, red-lit power plant. As they neared the exit, the door slid open, and everyone put their guns up, ready to fire at anything on the other side. But there was nothing. Just blowing sand, and a dark view of outstretching street that traveled through the entire city. Shadow pulled up his night-vision aided sniper rifle to see through the near-pitch black night. His eyepiece was destroyed during his attempt to escape from the military desert base, so he'd have to make do with the sniper rifle. They moved in a rough diamond shape, scanning the rooftops and the alleys for any possible enemies that could be moving up to attack them. The night vision blipped, and a contact appeared on his scope. The scanner normally would pick up just 9 contacts, the Spartans and the other Dark Wolves. But in this case, there was an additional one that blipped. It was on the roof on the left. He swung his rifle around and prepared to blast. But another loud shot came from the ground right next to him, leaving a white vapor trail behind it.

*BLAM*

The enemy soldier slumped over, a hole in his chest. As he slumped, his body tipped over, and fell to the ground. Shadow lowered his rifle and looked to Linda. She lowered her sniper rifle and began scanning for any other enemies. She had quite the fast trigger finger.

They continued to move along the street, looking for any enemy contacts. But none came. It seemed as if there were only minimal patrols tonight. He continued to move quickly, until they found a quiet alley. They quickly moved into the small section, making sure no enemies were dwelling in there. After they found safety, John spoke up through the COM systems. Shadow could hear the Spartan through the loud music he was listening to.

***I'm getting an encoded message from the desert base. It has military encryption, it must be Kroeger.***

John held up his hand to where his ear would be on the helmet, and he could now hear the message being relayed from the Spartan's suit to everyone's com channel.

***This is Kroeger. We've gotten a recent message from the resistance. They're hidden somewhere in one of the two parking lots. The line broke off before I could finished receiving the information. We must assume that they have been found out, and are under attack from the government. Those resistance fighters are absolutely necessary for the success of the mission. I'm issuing your team an additional mission parameter of saving the resistance leader. I'll contact you again if I have additional tactical information.***

The Spartans radioed back in the standard military response to a superior.

***Sir, yes sir!***

The Dark Wolves, on the other hand, didn't say anything remotely respectful.

***Yea, whatever.******Another parameter to an already impossible mission? These military dudes are all screwed up.***

Shadow looked at the others, and brought up EVA onto the channel.

"EVA, we need the best route to the closest of the two parking lots in the city. Quickly.""Hold your horses, I'm working on it...got it. There's an alley directly across from your position. It leads to a parallel street. You need to get on that street.""Fine."

He looked to the others and nodded to them. They nodded back, apparently having heard the conversation and understanding what they needed to do. They all swiftly moved out of the alley, scanning the rooftops and the street on both sides to check for enemies. Jan and Cal took the lead with their shotguns in hand. The other five followed in a loose formation, ready to provide support for the two soldiers. Shadow and Linda took up the rear, making sure no enemies sneaked up on their six. Shadow saw nothing on his COM system, and had no visual of enemies. He turned to Linda, and they both nodded. As he turned to follow the others, he heard shotgun shots.

*BLAM* *Cicket* *BLAM* *Cicket* *BLAM* *Cicket* *BLAM* *Cicket*

Shadow turned just in time to see two enemy government soldiers fly through the air and into the street on the other side of the alley. Jan and Cal nodded and continued on to the street, the others following.

***Incoming!***(Is This What it takes! To keep me alive!)

He spun around again, and he and Linda both fired in unison at the two incoming soldiers.

*BLAM* *FTEW*

Linda's shot went right through the soldier's chest, blowing out blood in the exit wound. He fell to the ground, dead. Shadow's shot was powerful enough to push the soldier across the entire street and smash the government agent right into a broken down hover vehicle in a loud smash and crunch of bones. Linda turned to him, her body language showing that she apparently wasn't happy.

"Nice job. Alert the entire city why don't you?""Well, I don't hear your shots being quiet! That thing wakes up the dead!"

Linda heaved an enormous sigh and was about to argue back, when they both heard assault rifle blasts.

They ran side by side through the alley to the next street. Shadow came out just in time to see the last enemy soldier get slammed with streams of bullets. None of the Dark Wolves or the Spartans looked hurt, but he got a nervous transmission from Jan.

***Everyone of your toes! Two enemy Scorps, down the road.******You sure? My sensors don't detect a thing, and this sandy wind is killing my visuals.***(I don't want to waste my time, become another casualty of society, don't wanna fall in line, become another victim of conformity.)

Az popped in with a response for Jan.

***Trust me, Jan has the best sensor equipment. If she says its there, then its there.******Fine, I'm trusting you mercenaries. How far?******25 KM. They will be in firing range within 10 secs.***

Linda radioed a transmission.

***My scope doesn't zoom that far.***

Shadow didn't say anything. He just jogged up ahead of everyone, and kneeled down. He looked through the scope. It was 3x right now. He clicked a switch 3 times, and it zoomed 25x. All he saw was dust. Maybe Jan was actually wrong...or maybe...He had an idea. He zoomed back out once to 20x. There they were. He had zoomed to far. He grinned and fired two quick shots.

*FTEW* *FTEW*(I try so hard, and get so far, but in the end, it doesn't really matter.)

The first shot blew right through the Scorpion Tank's muzzle, blowing open the entire gun platform. As it exploded, it set the entire tank on fire. The second shot went through the tank's cockpit, killing the driver. The tank continued to glide along for a few seconds, and slowly stopped moving as its driver died at the controls. He stood up and slung his rifle over his shoulder.

"So, where do we go now EVA?"

The AI popped up on his COM system as a hologram, her cloaked body hiding her face.

"We keep moving north along this street. The garage should be directly at the end of the street as it goes to a T-intersection.""Alright."

The others probably didn't hear the conversation as the wind howled throughout the street. He decided to repeat the instructions to the others.

***We move up ahead north along this street. The garage should be at the end of it.******Roger******Hope you're right Shadow.***

They swiftly moved along the road. They continued to move along the road, scanning the rooftops for enemies. There were none. After what seemed like hours, they could see the garage up ahead.

***6 bogies, up ahead! They're lined up...looks like they cutting off an escape route for the resistance. Guess the resistance really IS under attack.***

Az gave a simple answer.

***Lets blow through them and go inside, and save their asses before its too late!******We can't! My sensors show that they have implemented a software lockdown system. They've closed and locked the garage doors. Those things are made of titanium!******So, Dark Wolves, how do we get in?***(It's my time to fly!! Follow me into the night!)

Geb smiled and gave a thoughtful answer.

***We get to the roof of one of the nearby buildings. The top of the garage must have a ventilation entrance somewhere. We'll use shadow's grappling hook to zip over to the roof of the garage and enter through there.******Sounds like a plan Dark Wolf. Linda and Shadow, you are to take out those bogies stationed at the entrance while the rest of us will secure a rooftop.******Roger.***(Can't Believe!!!!)

Linda pulled up her rifle while Shadow kneeled down, aiming for the heads.

*BLAM* *FTEW* *FTEW* *BLAM* *FTEW* *BLAM*

The enemies all slumped over, dead, and enormous puddles of blood spilling out of their already decaying bodies. They nodded to each other, and went to catch up to the others. Shadow took the lead while Linda secured the rear. He snapped in his sniper rifle on his strap, and jumped onto the ladder, climbing up like a spider at lightening speed. Linda made sure there were no more enemies, and then made her way up the ladder. They ran to the edge of the rooftop where the other were looking over, analyzing the situation. Shadow tossed the pistol to James, the strongest of the Spartans.

***Just aim and fire. Hold on to the pistol while the rest of us cross. When its your turn, press that trigger over here and the wire will retract, bringing you over as well. Got it?******Understood***

James aimed, and fired within a mere second of his conversation with Shadow. The garage was a story shorter than the building they were on, so the wire would be pointing down as they flew over. This way, they wouldn't have any problems with getting stuck in the middle of the trip. He pulled on the wire a few times to make sure it was secure, and nodded to Cal. Cal nodded back and was the first to fly over. He took his shotgun and placed over taut wire. He pushed off the edge of the roof and quickly slid of the wire, screaming.

"I'm gonna die!"***ZIIIIIIIIPPPPPP!***

Cal landed in a small puff of dust, immediately searching the area for enemies. He raised his hand, sending out a transmission at the same time.

***It's all safe here.***

The others fell in suit, Shadow being the last before James came over. As he zipped over, the world seemed to fly by him, and he felt as if he was going to fall and die. But he knew that wasn't going to happen unless he was too heavy for James. He landed in a thud as he hit the roof. He pulled his rifle off from the wire and immediately went to join the others who were huddling near something. James came in immediately behind him. He too landed in a quick thud, and ran to catch up. He tossed Shadow the pistol while they jogged to meet with the others.

***Looks like a ventilation shaft alright. I want Fred and Kelly to be the first ones down there. If it's going to be a heavy firefight, the MJOLNIR armor will take more of a beating than unprotected flesh would.******You saying we can't handle the heat of battle?******Yes, your more vulnerable.******This is bullshit. These damn military fucks are outright insulting us.******Relax Geb. They're right. We don't have the protection that they do. It may be an insult to our whopping egos, but the Spartan IS right.***

Geb just grumbled over the radio, and followed as the Spartans jumped through the hatch. Shadow was the last one. He strapped in his sniper rifle, and pulled out his MA5B. It would be more effective indoors. He jumped through the hatch. He expected an immediately landed through the pitch black darkness of the shaft. What he got was a 10 foot drop into the heart of the garage. He landed on concrete, and light flooded in. It was dim light, many of the lights having been blown out already, but it was brighter than the shaft. He looked around. The Spartans and the Dark Wolves were already in the midst of pushing the government troops back. He watched as the rag-tag group of resistance fighters helped out as well. Bodies were strewn all over the place, and he could smell burning flesh as he walked through, firing his rifle in the general direction of the enemy.

"We're glad you guys came. The military commander said you'd be here. We could use your help in getting these fools out of here."

Shadow nodded and ran up ahead to the others. All of a sudden, the right wall exploded, sending shrapnel and concrete flying everywhere. One of the resistance fighters exploded into a million pieces as the wall blew up right in front of him. Another fighter had his head lopped off by a chunk of concrete flying his way. Shadow dove to the right and flattened himself out as an enormous pieces flew right at him. Once the pieces of rock and concrete had stopped flying everywhere, he flipped up and began firing into the smoke where the explosion had come from. He could hear distant fighting in other parts of the garage, but he had no time to help them elsewhere, he needed to help the fighters here. He finished off his round, and tossed a grenade in from his sack of devices.

He dove behind a box and pulled out the clip. He fit another in, and was about to dive in as he felt something graze his hair. He looked up and saw a small beam white light flood in through the wall of the box. More holes became visible as he sat there behind the box. They were shooting through his cover! It was time to leave. He dove out from behind, and fired a few more rounds into the two remaining government troops in the area.

The bullets thrashed through the soft flesh of the government troops, and they collapsed to the ground, blood flying everywhere. He got up from his dive and took a look around. Three dead resistance fighters, but there were still two alive, moving towards the hole to police the enemies' weapons. He nodded to them and moved up ahead to the next part of the garage. He zigzagged through the maze of cars as he ran towards an open fence where the main fight was occurring. All of a sudden, he saw a slight bulge in the concrete wall to his left, and then saw it fall apart in pieces. A huge scorpion tank drove through hole, and began turning its muzzle towards the forces in the main garage area. He needed to do something, or the resistance fighters, Spartans, AND Dark Wolves would all be dead. He quickly dropped his assault rifle and pulled out his rifle with his other hand on in one smooth motion. He fired a blue vapor trailed blast right into the main part of the tank.

*FTEW*

The shot went right through the tank, and into the wall behind it, driving 20 feet into the thick concrete before stopping. The tank collapsed right in its middle where the hole was made, and exploded in a fury of fire. His skin felt like it was melting off as the flames hit him. He was blown back and into a car behind him. He heard the crash of a window and the pain of the shards of the glass stabbing into his back. Not good. He slowly pulled himself out of the window of the car, and kneeled over on one knee, aching from the pain of the heat and the glass lodged in his back. He couldn't get it out now, he'd have to get to one of the Spartans or Dark Wolves first. He slowly struggled to stand up, and began to walk through the open fence towards the main garage area.

He could hear no more fire. Guess it was over now. Dead bodies littered the entire area, and empty assault rifle shells still clanged as they rolled along the ground. He was about to walk up to the medical area, where all the fighters were heading to, but he could hear the pained, muffled screams of help from somewhere in one of the garage atriums. He resolved to find the injured person, and turned to the sound of the calling, the loud rock music still blasting in his earphone.